Performance-based methods, often based on theatre, can involve a variety of methodological practices. Performance is frequently thought of as a representational form, but it can serve as a means of data collection and analysis, and as a channel for re/presenting research findings. Theatre practice responds closely to the recent move in the social sciences toward embodiment research as a way of integrating the mind and body in social inquiry.
There are various ways in which scholars can capitalize on the potential of performance-based research methods. For example, using drama as a research activity, the participants or “cast” gather to examine a particular research question orally, with the textual data emerging from this improvisation stage of “collective creation.” Through participatory and performative action, the data are framed into a script through a drama-based process of analysis and subsequently performed to an audience.
An alternative example is ethnotheater, which involves writing up research findings into a script for a performance based on narratives that might come from a range of sources, including interviews, participant observation notes, journal entries, or newspaper articles. This form of theater animates research participants’ experiences as well as the researcher’s interpretation of the data.
These methods raise a multitude of questions about the strategies used to analyze, interpret, and transform the data into a condensed script, about the process of characterization, and about the ways in which the storyline and structure of the script convey meaning.
They also raise issues about reflexivity and subjectivity, notions that are also pertinent to other arts-based methods, and the role of the researcher in constructing meaning throughout the research process. The researcher’s reflexivity and self-acknowledgment has the potential to enrich the research and uncover new layers of understanding in geographical inquiry.
For more information, see:
Johnston, C., Pratt, G., 2019. Migration in Performance: Crossing the Colonial Present. Routledge, London.